Arabic Numerals
by kisaru
Summary: That fox boy was crazy. Mentally insane in the membrane. But then a rich gentleman named Sasuke came to take the fox's medication away. SasuNaru AU. Chapter 5 UPDATED
1. Default Chapter

Haroooo minna-saaaaaaaan!!! 33 It's polly here with another enriching fanfucktion for my poor, poor Naruto fandom!! I wrote this a long time ago and have been posting the chapters one by one on my GreatestJournal, but I felt I was totally ignoring and lurking my favorite FanFiction.Net!! So I've decided to post this story... very... slowly. Leave a review if you care to read!! =nn=  
Disclaimer: I own Naruto? More like-- Naruto PWNZ MY SOUL   
  
Warnings: SasuNaru. Just to get that out of the way... Kinda crappy writing because, well, it's POLLY. Also SasuIno, SasuSaku, GaaNaru, etc etc. Y'know, all the people that try to get between Naruto and Sasuke. And completely and totally AU.

* * *

I thought I was going to die in that dungeon.  
  
I'd spend hours simply lying out on the floor, listening to the soft tipping of water leaking from the drain pipes that lined the gloomy ceiling. A week ago I would probably be retching from the stench that overpowered the room and overwhelmed the senses of any decent man to enter. All previous traces of decency have been washed out of me, I suppose. I felt as though I would willingly eat a rat should one somehow pass by. I'd dissect its parts and taste each individual organ to ease my boredom. _Drip. Drip. Drip._  
  
Familiar footsteps filled my ears. It was the nurse arriving for a daily checkup on her prisoners. I closed my eyes in hopes she would pass me off as dead and move on. As the footsteps came to a halt beside me, I heard a long exasperated sigh from the woman beside me. Yes, I'm afraid I am dead. You can leave now.  
  
"Naruto, get up and follow me," she said softly, kicking her toe into my side. I squirmed. Apparently, a gallon of depressant medication each day wasn't enough to halt the fact that I was ticklish.  
  
I shot up on the floor, gruffly ruffling my blond hair-- which was now dimming in color-- with both hands as I blinked my tired eyes open to regard the pink-haired nurse, Sakura. Slowly, her beautiful form shifted into focus. She was frowning at me, and I frowned back, taking her hand as she pulled me into a standing position. I swear I must have stared at her face for sixty whole seconds.   
  
"You're beautiful, y'know," I said absentmindedly while dusting off my dirty orange jumper.  
  
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Not beautiful enough to be attractive..." She then began to walk away, clutching a dusty clipboard to her chest.  
  
"To good men like Sasuke?" I asked almost bitterly. It was a well known fact that the nurse had taken a liking to the strange man who wandered into our town last month-- as did every young girl who laid eyes on him. Uchiha Sasuke. Hmph. What was so cool about him anyway?  
  
Sakura chose to ignore me and keep walking.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," I sighed. "You don't like me." And I stumbled after her.  
  
She led me to her little laboratory, up the stairs, down the hall, through the left corridor, under the bridge, and a little to the left of the kitchen. I never ceased to marvel at the fine furniture and decoration of the castle. It was so different from what I was accustomed to, and it was especially different from the prison I often occupied. And yet you could tell the two were of the same architecture. The stone which built the floors and walls of both were the same dark shade of greenish aqua. And the constant pitter patter of water could still be heard throughout.  
  
We finally reached the laboratory that smelt like blood. A smell similar to the air in the dungeon, actually. I wondered if they kept dead bodies in here.   
  
As I was surveying the environment, Sakura went ahead to rummage through the cabinets. She was looking for her syringe.  
  
"Please sit down on the bed," she said as she brought the syringe and squeezed out some of the formula. She didn't bother to apply alcohol. I was nothing but a prisoner after all. The rum should be saved for the king and his dinner parties. I winced as my arm was punctured and I felt liquid jetting through my blood.   
  
"Owww..." I groaned as Sakura took out the syringe and blood began to trickle from the wound. My vision began to blur as it had every other day at this time. Desperately, I tried to cling onto the image of the pink-haired girl in front of me, but it was fading quickly. "Wh-why do I have to get injected everyday anyways?" I mumbled.  
  
Sakura frowned, putting the syringe aside. "Orders from the doctor. You're insane. You know that, right?"  
  
I nodded dumbly. That was why I was brought here.  
  
"Yeah, well, the doctor says your thoughts are too radical and have to be depressed or something like that." She was packing things into a black thing. And I could see no more. "I don't think it's helping. You're still a nut."  
  
I grinned, my eyelids growing heavier. "Haha. Yup." It wasn't my fault I was insane. Or so they said. I thought I was a pretty okay guy.   
  
"But then again, I didn't know you before you started taking medication, so I can't be sure."  
  
"I don't remember anything before my medication anyways." There was nothing but a large blank space in my memory-- as though upon the road I were brought to a cliff leading into a large ravine. Sometimes at night I would remember little bits and pieces of a childish peasant life, but other than that, I only knew this prison. I often wondered what had brought me to this castle in the first place.  
  
There were perhaps two or three large blobs in my line of vision at this point. I blindly swung a hand in front of me, silently hoping Sakura would catch it in her delicate hands. I heard the snapping of latex gloves and the rattle of the trash can.  
  
"Sasuke says he's coming to visit later," Sakura then said almost gleefully.   
  
Sakura never made conversation with me unless she was truly excited about something. Like a hanging at the gallows. Or Sasuke.  
  
"He says he plans on checking on Gaara." Gaara was one of the older prisoners-- the most popular one on highest medication. Sakura made a strange girlish noise. A squeal, I should think. "I hope I get to speak with him!! He's so handsome, and I hear he's quite rich!!"  
  
And I didn't make much of it at that time. Scholars, physicians, doctors, and royalty of all kinds often visited this castle to see the insane and the psychotic. Gaara was a fabled specimen (or so I'd heard-- I'd never actually spoken with the guy), so a wealthy upper class man visiting would not have been out of the ordinary.  
  
Simply routine, I'd say. The day to day privileges of residency in a mental asylum.  
  
Then, later on in the day-- right around suppertime after I had been led back to my cell-- Grand Lord Uchiha Sasuke IV finally arrived at our humble castle. His carriage man, an upstanding gentleman named Hatake Kakashi, had deliberately slammed every door open so that the whole building would jolt as he did it. I could hear it from my cell.   
  
I was throwing pebbles at the ceiling, only slightly curious as to why they never seemed to drop back down, when I heard the slamming of doors grow louder and closer. It seemed as though there was no stopping Sasuke's horrendous wrath. His snooty Victorian rich-like boots' tapping did all but drive me crazy. His pace never seemed to slow down as I heard him pass by cell after cell after cell.  
  
_Glasses kid... Snake molester... Dog boy... Cherry face..._  
  
Then I noticed there was someone else with him. The carriage man had long trailed behind, but someone was following Sasuke with much lighter steps. A woman, I thought to myself.  
  
Finally, the grand lord waltzed his fine rich ass into my part of the corridor, and I got my first look at him by simply watching him pass by. He was indeed accompanied by a woman. A blond woman whose hair had been tied in a ponytail save for one lock of hair straying before her face. But that was not whom I was concerned with. It was the man called Uchiha Sasuke who was so interesting.  
  
If I hard to sum up him up in one word, I... couldn't. Proper and businesslike. Tall and sophisticated. Cold and uninterested. He seemed bored. And it was obvious by the look in his eyes that he saw us as inferior. He thought we were stupid. He believed we were retarded farm animals or something.   
  
And, for some reason, he decided to stop and look into my cell.  
  
"...Hello," I said dumbly.  
  
The blond woman seemed to draw back upon hearing my voice, and the Uchiha visibly flinched in a combination of surprise (that a retarded creature could speak) and disgust (that a retarded creature had spoken to him). As though I were a decapitated eel writhing on the cold wet floor.  
  
I licked my lips as a mental image of steaming eel floated in my mind tauntingly like fog upon the morning lake. Then I began staring at the dark and proper robes worn by the lord and his wife, drooling at the thought of having that much wealth. I immediately collected myself and slurped up my drool as I realized how big a fool I must have seemed.  
  
"Sorry," I apologized. "The shots they give me--" I pointed to my arm. "--kinda mess with my head." I grinned goofily, trying to be as friendly as possible. The couple smiled back at me, obviously trying their best to be friendly as well. Their expressions were like all other visits-- if you ignored the absolutely smug smirk on the lord's fair and pretty face.   
  
"Is that so?" said the pretty one known as Uchiha. I shivered as his deep rich voice met my delicate virgin ears. Okay, so maybe I understood why women would fall for a guy like this. Hell, I was feeling a little uncomfortable in my pants, and I was another guy, for chrissakes.   
  
The dark-haired gentleman then lounged his way over to the bars of my cell. Reaching through the dark rusty pillars, he signaled for me to approach him, the smirk still glaring hauntingly from his fine lips.   
  
"Come over here," he softly said.  
  
I obeyed, crawling on my knees towards him-- more curious than anything else. He pulled his hand back, and I wondered if he had some sort of dead eel in his palm and if he'd let me eat it. As I said, this happened right before suppertime, so I was famished. I looked up into his eyes-- like black diamond.  
  
"You're insane, you say?" he asked me as though amused by the fact. His dark coal eyes glimmered.  
  
I nodded curtly.  
  
Then he brought his hand up again, this time reaching through the bars to touch my face. My eyes widened a bit (as did the azure eyes of the Uchiha's mistress) for no one ever dared to lay a hand upon the potentially dangerous. Tenderly, he traced his thumb across the whisker-like marks on my cheek. I blushed as he whipped a small pink tongue across his fine lips and back again into his mouth. Nervously, I looked to his mistress, whom did _not_ seem perfectly okay with her husband's strange method of scrutiny.  
  
'What is he doing?' I wondered.  
  
He lifted my chin up so my eyes were set perfectly upon his, and our faces were close enough to feel the warmth of each other's breath. I certainly wasn't breathing though.  
  
Finally, he parted his lips and commented, "A fine boy, indeed." I blushed. "Tell me, is your idiocy induced by the medication or are you always like this?"  
  
I snarled, truly offended by that comment.   
  
"Snooty rich bastar--"  
  
"I vote for the latter," the blond woman said, raising a gloved hand with a strange grin.   
  
I snarled at her as well.   
  
"Poor thing. Sakura was right about him-- he's delightfully stupid." 'Sakura? Said something about me?' Was it the same Sakura I had pined after for the past two weeks? The blond woman then broke into a very feminine laugh, her hand at her mouth to seem more polite.  
  
Sasuke coughed out a "heh."  
  
"Wh-what did Sakura say about me?" I asked nervously. I was almost certain my eyes gave off the impression that I was attempting a puppy dog look because that's what I felt like.  
  
Grinning, the Uchiha slowly replied, "The stupid-faced blond guy with three whiskers on each cheek."  
  
"An annoying voice and a closet queer," said the woman. "You're probably as attracted to my Sasuke as the rest of the women, aren't you? Are you as desperate as Sakura?" She sounded almost offended.  
  
"What? No! I--" I was even more surprised when I saw the Uchiha quickly lick his lips once again. Dammit, did he have to draw attention to such an area? Ugh. And I was getting a headache from the medication.  
  
"It's a shame that you're a boy," Sasuke commented.  
  
"Shut up..." I muttered. Had he only come to torment the prisoners and see how angry they could become? Was he trying to tamper with my anger just to see when I would snap?  
  
"You'd make an adorable little girl."  
  
"Sasuke!" the woman shrieked.  
  
"Shut up!" I blurted out, my head not willing to bear another one of those high-pitched squeals. Then I covered my mouth in embarrassment. I had no idea why I was suddenly so angry.  
  
There was a silence after that.  
  
My eyes were growing heavy again, so I tore my chin out of Sasuke's grasp and laid back onto the dungeon floor with my hands behind my messy head of blond hair. I hadn't showered in days, I realized, as my hair had long lost its normal spiky status.   
  
Looking back at the Uchiha, I saw a slight look of bewilderment upon his flawless features. For a long while (long enough for the woman to begin tapping her foot in impatience), Sasuke kneeled outside of my cell and watched me as I tried to fall asleep. What was I? An animal at the zoo?  
  
"Sasuke... Let's go..." the woman-- Ino was her name-- whispered as she tugged at her husband's sleeve. As though snapping out of a daze, Sasuke shot up from the ground and, dusting himself off, took his wife by the elbow and walked away. But before he left the room, he asked me a question.  
  
"How long have you been kept here, Naruto?"  
  
I still wonder where he got the nerve to call me by my first name. But I guess, in essence, it was his arrogance-- merely who he was. I had no right to judge him by that.  
  
My voice was soft as I sheepishly turned away.   
  
"...I don't know."

* * *

Uweeeeeeeeee TwT First chapter done!! I'm so used to my YYH fandom that I always scroll to the end of the list of Anime series when I submit a story, but then I remind myself that Naruto starts with an "N"! And N is in the middle of the alphabet! Like Captain N or Nny!! Oh well Leave a review if you find the time? I know I've been a huge lurker on FF.Net, but that doesn't mean I want you to be!!! 


	2. Chapter Two

Konban wa, minna-san!!!!! Polly here with the next chapter of the story! Thanks everyone for the reviews last chapter!! They really brightened up my day! From what I gathered from many of the reviews was that my concept was very "interesting" and my characters very out of character-- especially Sasuke, whom seems meaner than he should be! I hadn't realized I had made Sasuke seem like a big fat meanie... TwT This and the next chapter were already written, though, so you'll have to wait that long until I can attempt to thrust them back into character...   
  
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto and others. All rights reserved.   
  
Warnings: SasuNaru, crappiness, AU, random pairings, and OOCness

* * *

The next day, I filed a request to the warden, a written document barely readable in my handwriting, asking to visit one of the other prisoners within the castle. Such an occasion was not rare, for it often grew lonely in such a large establishment, and companionship was sought constantly.   
  
My request was turned down outright. The reason, I'm assuming, was for the person whom I requested to visit. And that was the fabled Gaara of the Desert. The next day, I filed another request, which was also turned down. Then another, and another. For a full week, I did nothing but spend my time writing requests to meet with Gaara of the Desert. It wasn't until the next week that my request was finally accepted out of exasperation.   
  
A doctor arrived at my cell to guide me there. He solemnly unlocked the door with a key from his pocket, his face and body concealed by a large dark robe decorated with red clouds of seemingly oriental descent. His eyes glowed a haunting red color as he would glance up at me and cast his eyes down in a sort of eerie shyness.   
  
"Please follow me, Naruto," he said, his voice as smooth as honey and whipped cream. His footsteps contained a strange stride to them-- as though he had no feet at all and was floating beneath that dark cloak of his. He turned to look at me with glowing red eyes once, and he looked straight ahead the rest of the trip.   
  
Casually, I peered into other cells as we passed them. Some were gloomy, some were lively, some contained dead bodies, and still others were littered with long dead skeletons bound by metallic shackles for the rest of eternity, their wicked grins almost chanting for me to turn back. And as the dead bodies grew more and more abundant as we approached the back of the dungeon, I could only grow more and more nervous. Not even a cockroach would scurry past us anymore.   
  
The dripping of water had halted.   
  
It was as though I had entered a sanctuary. The walls which would normally be concealed in dark shades of blue and green was now stained with dark red and purple. _Like blood._ Like some sort of sideshow corridor. And pretty soon the murderer would come out-- oh wait. He's sitting in his cell.   
  
As soon as I stepped through the door, it was shut and locked behind me, and the doctor was waiting patiently on the other side. And before me was the fabled, feared, and otherwise talked about, Gaara of the Desert.   
  
He looked about my age. His head was a mess of deep red hair. His eyes, which were closed, were ringed with dark ovals much like a raccoon or a panda. The guy seemed to be meditating, actually, as he was sitting leisurely on a dirty cotton mattress (which was better than any of the other prisoners could afford). Cautiously, I circled around him before finally tapping him harshly on the shoulder and calling for his attention. "Oy! I came all this way just to visit you! Wake up!"   
  
"Leave me alone," he stated quite plainly.   
  
Confused, I lifted an eyebrow.   
  
His eyes shot open. Two dimly jaded orbs peering from underneath the dark circles of insomnia. Their gaze was at nothing in particular, but it was icy freezing cold and empty. Yet, somehow, those eyes reflected my own.   
  
"I know why you're here. Now leave me alone or I'll kill you," the young man added, turning his chilly jade eyes towards me. I was only slightly taken aback, but I remembered I had come for a reason, so I continued speaking.   
  
"I came here because I wanted to ask you how the visit from Uchiha went. You know, the one from a week ago?"   
  
"Leave me alone or I'll kill you," he repeated, the look in his eyes not making me doubt the sincerity of his words.   
  
But I would not listen to logic.   
  
"I've been waiting a whole week to talk to you! Come on!" I began to gesture with my hands. "Puppet boy said you were supposed to be a fairly reasonable guy after you've taken your meds!"   
  
"Leave me alone."   
  
"But why only me?! Tons of people visit you all the time! And I doubt you tell them all to leave you alone or you'll kill them! What? Did Uchiha say something about me and you won't talk to me because of that? Don't believe him! It's not true!"   
  
I don't remember how I got onto the topic of Sasuke saying things about me. Perhaps his visit truly affected me more than I could have imagined... Nobody stopped by my cell very often--   
  
"He's coming back next week."   
  
I blinked, his sudden answer taking me by surprise. "What?"   
  
And anyone else would have gotten annoyed with my slow reaction, but for some reason, his man did nothing but elaborate for me. Was he truly insane? Or was it simply courtesy? The dead look in Gaara's eyes opted for the former. "Uchiha Sasuke will be returning to this castle next week. He wants to see you again."   
  
Uchiha Sasuke? Me? Not Gaara? "Huh? Why?"   
  
"He likes you," was the blunt answer.   
  
Well, that certainly caught me by surprise. Suddenly, I found myself looking down at my feet, for I was certain that my face had again turned a ravishing shade of red. "How-- Why the hell would he--"   
  
"He says you're 'adorable.'"   
  
I paused, suddenly noticing the dirt that had collected itself upon my toes with a foreign self-disgust. I had never noticed that before now.  
  
_'You'd make an adorable little girl.' _  
  
The one with panda eyes then made a gesture for me to sit down next to him on the bed. Nervously scrambling towards him, I urgently sat a safe distance from him, my legs closed together and my hands in my lap, a wide-eyed virgin girl at the stakes. At least the virgin part was true for me.   
  
"D-did you talk to him about this stuff or what?" I asked, the dust collecting about my toes seeming more and more noticeable to me.  
  
"Yes."   
  
"_What_?!"   
  
"He came and asked me about you. I said I knew nothing, and so he began to question me about what it was like to live here. When he was about to leave, I asked him what business he had with you, and he said your whiskers had caught his eye."   
  
Digesting the information slowly, I looked down again. I felt myself color darkly, and I had no idea why.   
  
"Probably likes kittens or something...The snot..."   
  
_'He likes you.'_ I blushed even harder upon the thought.   
  
Gaara did not speak. He would be the type to only speak if asked to do so. The kind of person without his own mind to share. A guy who only thought of himself and what he would do next. Alas, my assumption was not the case, for Gaara of the Desert was the one who spoke and broke the silence first. I almost jumped at the sound of his voice.  
  
"Do you know who I am, Uzumaki Naruto?" he quietly said, his gaze upon me less intense than before as he slightly turned his head from me.   
  
I gave him a quizzical look. I did not understand what he meant at the time. "You're Gaara of the Desert, right?"   
  
He gave me a profound stare in return.   
  
"...Is that all that I am?"   
  
"A man who killed sixty hundred people, then shrugged it off as saying he was bored. The oldest prisoner in his whole goddamned castle and the most well-known in all the world." At least, that was what I had heard about the guy.   
  
"...So you don't remember," he finally said, disappointed.   
  
Was I supposed to remember something? Was I doing something wrong? I tried to correct my mistake by waving my hands in front of me in a display of innocence. I smiled nervously. "It's probably the shots they give me..." That would do. "...Didn't they wipe your memory clear?"   
  
"No. I still remember everything."   
  
His eyes had flashed a deeper shade of green, but perhaps it was only my imagination.   
  
"How? I thought everyone was supposed to have their memory wiped..."   
  
"No. Memory loss is only used to solve extreme..." He paused, "... Problems. I haven't been given the medicine that strong." And then I was confused. The infamous Gaara of the Desert was less of a problem than I?   
  
"Then why have I taken it?"   
  
Gaara paused, his ringed eyes nervously flicking away in favor of the more pleasant sight of reddened walls and floor.   
  
"...I can't tell you why."

* * *

_"I heard they're out of love."  
  
"Uchiha and his mistress? Whatever for?"  
  
"That must be a mistake! Lord Uchiha refusing __that_ fine young woman? What on earth could he be thinking?"  
  
"He's got every woman in town chasing after his heels, is what he could be thinking."  
  
"Goodness gracious, sometimes that man frustrates me so. And I haven't even spoken to him yet!"  
  
"He's probably a reasonable man in person."  
  
"Actually, I heard, this Lord Uchiha is actually a heavy writer. And that he's already married to someone. But he left her to travel the world. And he's slept with countless women ever since!"  
  
"Oh dear! How dreadful!"  
  
"Actually..."  
  
"Huh? What is it?"  
  
"...I heard that Uchiha's mistress was the one who ended the relationship."

* * *

Days passed.   
  
Each day became more difficult to bear than the last.   
  
Perhaps it was the voice in my head so irritatingly insistent that it should threaten to drive me, ironically, insane. For so long, I could think of absolutely nothing but that one upcoming day-- Monday, September 8th, one week from my visit with Gaara of the Desert-- the chilling speculation of the day literally tearing away at my tendons and slicing my every thumping nerve. It bothered me when I was awake, when I ate, when I took my shots and pills, when I made my bed, when I looked myself in the mirror, when I slept, and in my miserably pitiful _dreams_.  
  
Uchiha Sasuke, grand lord of the mansion seven blocks from this castle and most handsome man to ever walk the face of the earth (or at least this town), was going to visit me.  
  
Oh, how I wished to tear my very head apart, rip my brain right from my skull and stomp it guttural until it were nothing but slimy fragments of pasta, when that thought had deviously thought itself inside my head. Did I not sound a bit too desperate for company of the rich folk? Angrily, I told myself that this wasn't a bloody popularity contest and that I should clamp my thought-hole up before even odder thoughts could infect it.  
  
But when Sunday arrived, the day before the Uchiha heir would finally visit me, I was so anxious and nervous that I should put white-tailed deer to shame.   
  
It was around time for another shot. And the dripping which so characterized the castle had sped up a bit, I had noticed.   
  
The nurse hadn't come.  
  
Instead, the doctor barged into the hallway, seemingly hovering underneath his dark cloak, large red clouds decorating the fine black material. His eyes glowed a strange red glow at me as he hastily walked in front of my cell to unlock it.  
  
Swinging the door open, he commanded sternly, "You're coming with me, little one."  
  
I puffed my cheeks out angrily at the name and jumped out of the cell. I shoved my hands in my pockets, looking around me should I chance to find the source of the dripping noise, but could only follow the doctor in my meaningless search.   
  
The doctor walked with small, quick steps, so small that they were almost undetectable.   
  
The dripping sped up even further, like the constant drumming of fingers on an invisible desk, but I seemed to be the only one to notice. Perhaps it was only my own heartbeat so plaguing these halls and corridors for the reason that I had not yet taken my medicine. An insanity that reached far from what I could comprehend.  
  
My vision was also gradually becoming more vivid.  
  
And I found myself more impulsive. "What's your name?" I asked, the doctor unnoticeably flinching at the sound of my voice. I always knew my voice was annoying. Like a blaring foghorn on a cool autumn morning. Droning.  
  
The doctor glanced back at me. And, with a voice as smooth as cream upon a cherub's skin, replied hesitantly, "...Itachi."  
  
I grinned at the name. "Weasel? That's cool. So where're we going?"  
  
"We're going to escape."  
  
I almost stumbled and tripped and choked upon the air. "Wh-what?!" The castle was my home, my life; it was the only place I knew and to leave it would certainly be suicide. It fed me, kept me warm and safe, regulated my nerves and fluids... "And, may I ask, how the hell we're going to escape?!"   
  
Itachi looked from side to side, as though searching for something, and paused to quickly unlock the door leading out of the prison halls. Gracefully leaping down from the doorstep, he gave me his soft reply.  
  
"My brother."

* * *

DOKON DOKON DOKON!! Don't hate me for saying this, but I think chapters 220 and 221 have been boring!! >o Kishimoto is doing that "insert vast amounts of past cuteness so all readers will sympathize and fall in love" like he did with Neji, Hinata, and Gaara, but... ARGH. I can't bring myself to like Sasuke! He's so stupid!! Please, Kishimoto-sama, let Naruto kick some sense into Sasuke's ass... 


	3. Chapter Three

Yeah, yeah, we know the deal. At this point, I'm winging it with the story, and you can tell. I'm not even attempting to edit as I go along. D:

* * *

As the hooded doctor led me through the more refined areas of the castle, I could not help but wonder why the castle seemed so empty. "Where is everyone?" I asked while gracelessly stumbling over a low velvet chair in pursuit of the other man.  
  
"Outside," Itachi replied. "Where we're going right now."  
  
"Why are they outside?"  
  
"They desire a glimpse of the child, Uchiha Sasuke."   
  
I barely caught a smirk crossing his lips.  
  
Finally we arrived at what seemed to be the end of our journey; we found ourselves standing behind the exit to the castle. A deep maroon velvet framed the doorway in loose decoration. Golden spikes rose from about the obvious path to meet brilliant glittery ropes of the same color.   
  
With only a stare from the doctor, the door slowly swung open.  
  
My mouth shaped itself into an "O" of awe. It was lucky I had not taken my medication, or I would have suspected the doctor had literally opened the doors with the telekinetic force of his mind. And that hordes upon rows upon crowds of people were actually surrounding the entrance to the castle. Oh, that such a strange hallucination hath crossed my mind; I should give myself a kick in the rear.  
  
But, alas, I didn't get the chance to kick my own ass. This was real.  
  
Standing at the split of the crowd was the fair and rich nobleman, Uchiha Sasuke, his hand reaching out towards me, his dark eyes always calm and slick with lack of color. The sudden noise of other humans roaring in my ears nearly caused me to faint. Shaking my head, I missed the doctor as he gently took my hand in his larger one and led me towards Sasuke.   
  
The cries of women and men alike echoed about me. "Why would Lord Uchiha do something so dangerous!" "Oh, good lord, is that the psycho Lord Uchiha chose?" "But what are those markings on his cheeks?" "Look, the doctor is leading that psycho by the hand because it is the only way to placate the monster." "I do hope he gets locked in a dungeon and dies!"   
  
Shamefully, I lowered my head and scurried after the doctor as he picked up speed. I felt tears sting my eyes and painfully restrained the urge to bawl in submission. It wasn't fair, I thought. I hadn't done anything to hurt them, had I? Yet the aching in my chest told me I had.  
  
I wanted to tell them to stop. "How ugly is he! I bet his mother wrapped him in a cage and threw him to here only for that!" I wanted them to stop. "He deserves to be shot right here and now, the hideous beast!" My fist clenched. I wanted to _force_ them to stop; strike a regret within them; make them feel as I felt. "Oh my, I hope Lord Uchiha shoots him for us!"  
  
Oh, the colors and vivid detail I could see already.  
  
Then a gentle voice called out to me.   
  
"It's all right, Naruto."   
  
A hand had done itself to tenderly cup my cheek and raise my chin to meet the carrier's eyes. It was Sasuke-- with a face softer than any I had seen within the span of my memory. Brushing his fingers across the left side of my face and finding the roots of my blond hair, he pushed me towards the carriage behind him.   
  
"Do not touch him."   
  
I heard the command not directed towards me as I daintily entered the carriage and seated myself upon the plush seats of the roofless car. Sasuke then boarded, seating himself uncomfortably close to me so that our thighs were touching. He is unbelievably warm, I thought sheepishly. Itachi seated himself next to the driver.   
  
"You cannot dictate my actions, little brother," Itachi said in apparent response to the previous command.  
  
I was caught by surprise once again. "Brother?!"  
  
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, as though threatening to burn a hole into Itachi's back. "Would you like me to send you back to the castle, brother? The deal was that I help you out of the castle and you allow me to release one prisoner."  
  
"So it was. Do not fret, little brother, for I do not plan to interfere with your _piteous acts of charity_."  
  
"It's is not charity. Men are not animals, brother. They should be treated as free."  
  
"_You_ are the one who treats them as though they are animals locked up in a zoo. What do you plan to do with the little one after you bring him home? Release him into the wilderness?" Such cold siblings they were.  
  
Sasuke was silent.  
  
"And another thing. The people of this town. They will no longer address you by the name Lord Uchiha. From now on, I shall be the only Lord Uchiha in this family. Is that clear, little brother?"  
  
"Of course."

* * *

Why had I followed the doctor so faithfully? Even after the motive to escape had been revealed and the plot so deviously unveiled? Perhaps it was something inside me leading me gently by the fingertips and pulling. It was not a conscious decision, I remember, simply because I _don't_ remember. A boldness must have been stirred by my dislike for captivity. Whatever it was, it had brought me to the confines for the glorious Uchiha manor.   
  
Women of all ages and stature-- most of them absolutely gorgeous-- greeted us at the door. Actually, I must correct myself. Greeted _Sasuke_ at the door. Their numerous feet padded and scurried across the dirt road path while we had barely exited the horse-drawn carriage. Their cries were desperate ones-- of longing passion that struck me painfully in the chest for reasons I could not yet comprehend.  
  
"Oh, Lord Uchiha!" one cried. "Who is this handsome man you accompany?" They instantly crowded around the man known as Itachi, their hands running about his dark robe decorated with bold red clouds with a feverish sort or worship. It seemed as though the object of their affections had instantly transferred from Sasuke to Itachi. And Sasuke didn't seem affected in the least.  
  
As I thought about it, the two brothers _were_ very similar in physical attributes. Cold eyes, dark hair. Then again, both were very quiet, polite, and cold. But Itachi was more open to the women (whom I found to be waitresses, maids, and indentured servants of the manor) than his brother. In all seriousness, Sasuke seemed to act completely different from when I met him. Maybe because of his brother, I thought.  
  
"Would you like to stay for dinner, Naruto?"  
  
I didn't consider that perhaps he was different only around _me_.

* * *

I was sitting at the table, sure, but I wasn't in any way included in the family. I was more ignored than the woman servants who served the food.  
  
"May I be excused?" I asked, rising urgently from the fine polished chair as I instinctively looked to Sasuke for approval. The room was spinning around me at this point, and I could do nothing but hold onto the back of the chair until my knuckles turned white from the exertion. All around the table, the women and Uchiha brothers could do nothing but stare distastefully upon my discomfort. I slapped a hand across my mouth as I felt something like a sponge expanding within my throat. My eyes watered. I wanted to vomit.  
  
Sasuke rose from his seat.  
  
"You're going to need help."  
  
He looked around at the servants. "One of you, escort Naruto to the restroom."   
  
But none moved from where they were. Nothing but confused looks around the table --as though the idea of helping a sick man were so preposterous, and the idea of Sasuke suggesting it even more so.  
  
"I'll go myself," I weakly said, bolting from the dining table, knocking the chair upon its side, and frantically holding down the expansion in my throat.   
  
I had no idea where the restroom was, I realized. I could taste the discreet flavor of vomit at this point. I felt I could no longer breathe. I had no idea what in hell was going on, why this was happening to me.   
  
I felt trapped. This was no better than my life behind the prison bars, listening to the dripping of water on the castle floors, chasing after a woman I could not possess, speaking to others through a barrier.  
  
My eyes narrowed as they watered and almost spilled over. Not speaking to others through a barrier. Speaking to _no one_. No one ever visited my cell at the asylum. They would only snicker and laugh, or, if I was lucky, they'd pass by with expressions of pity written across their faces. No one ever visited me. I didn't have a family or friends.   
  
No one ever visited me. _No one._  
  
Someone grabbed my arm. I turned around sharply, eyes widening at the sight of the one known as Sasuke.   
  
"I'll help you," he quietly said, his voice like dark chocolate. I waited.  
  
He turned his head towards the right wing of doors beside us, his grip never loosening around my arm.   
  
"The restroom is over there. The third door on the left."  
  
Practically fascinated, I looked back at his face.  
  
He smirked at me. The word "beautiful" found itself in my thoughts. "Or don't you have to throw up anymore?"  
  
A frowned adorned my lips. Flushing, I ran down the hall and jumped into the third door on my left.   
  
Sasuke must've sighed and rolled his eyes at that.   
  
"Left is the other way, stupid."

* * *

I wanted to throw up again. I wanted to do nothing more than vomit and hope this pain in my gut, this unsettling in my throat, to go away. Why was it hurting so much? Why was there a throbbing in my head that I had never felt before? As though something had been planted and rooted its talons inside my brain and was starting to make itself known by ripping whatever it found apart.   
  
I coughed harshly, vomit hanging from my lips like a disgusting sort of glue. My eyes could not avert from the sight of vomit inside the toilet, and, although I had been emptied clean, I still felt dirty as a gutter whore broken on the side of the dumpster. Hurriedly flushing the toilet, I washed my hands in the perfectly clean sink, painfully swallowed my saliva, and wiped my face clean from any evidence. I wondered if I should return to the dinner table with Itachi, Sasuke, and their servants as I threw the towel upon the rack and pulled open the bathroom door. Perhaps--  
  
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked me almost irritably.  
  
Despite my surprise, I shook my head quickly, an embarrassed smile adorning my previously dirtied lips. "It's nothing. Probably motion sickness. I hadn't ridden a carriage in a while." I felt disgusting. Completely disgusting. Why did it feel so bad?  
  
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke sighed in exasperation and approached me. Of course he didn't believe me. "Whatever. Anyway, are you going to be staying?"  
  
"Hm?" I blinked.  
  
"Are you going to be sleeping here?" he elaborated, his dark eyes glinting with amusement at my delightful stupidity. Then, without waiting for my answer, he walked right past me, striding gracefully as swan. "Your room is over here next to mine."  
  
He casually pushed open a nearby door. Inside was an almost empty room. Aside from a single pine wood bed covered in thick blue blankets and topped with a frilled white pillow, the room was nothing but empty space surrounded by white walls. Nervously, I looked to Sasuke. "And what's your room look like?"  
  
He gestured to the door directly left of my own with a solemn look on his face. Hesitantly, I pushed it open, surprised at the sight I beheld. These walls were not white like my room. These walls were weighed down by a heavy maroon color. The bed was similar to my own, except it a top maroon curtain guaranteed to conceal anything that happened inside that bed. This room was much,_ much_ better than mine.  
  
Sasuke must have seen the jealousy in my eyes, for he then turned to me and said, "Or you may sleep with me..."  
  
I flushed deep red at the suggestive tone of his voice. "That's quite all right. I-I'll sleep in the other room... if you want me to." I mentally kicked myself at the additional comment. I didn't want to make it seem like I _wanted_ to share a bed with that Uchiha prick! Why the hell did I say that?! Stupid, stupid Naruto!  
  
Then Itachi entered the hallway.   
  
"My little brother and little one," he greeted coldly.   
  
I huffed at the nickname and did not notice the dark which now sheathed Sasuke's ebony eyes.   
  
"I take it the little one will be sleeping in the guest room?" _While Sasuke sleeps in the better room right next door, proving that our little Naruto is nothing more than an unwanted ornament?_ The unsaid words were resounding.  
  
"No, Brother," Sasuke replied. "Naruto will be staying in the same room as I." When was that decided again? And was it just me, or did Sasuke get a hell of a lot more polite when his brother came along? "I plan to treat him no different than a member of _the family_." I almost winced at the intensity of his voice.  
  
"So he'll be staying for a while then?" said the older.  
  
"It's his decision," the younger said. I had a feeling it really wasn't.  
  
"Then do whatever pleases him, little brother."   
  
And with a last wave, Itachi turned on his heel and walked away again, servants popping their heads from different rooms in the hallway and running quickly after him. Sasuke and I were alone in the hallway.  
  
"You don't treat your brother like family..." I mused aloud, earning a strange look from the dark-haired boy. "I mean, you say you're gonna treat me like a member of the family, but that really isn't saying much, is it?"  
  
"...You're right."  
  
Whoa. No one's ever said _that_ to me before.  
  
Sasuke turned to me, his eyes washed clean of any darkness, the same amused look on his face.   
  
"I'll treat you _much better_."

* * *

Nighttime had arrived, and I could not help but frown at the confidence the Uchiha displayed in everything he did. I had been given a maroon set of shimmering silken pajamas to wear (unbelievably comfortable, by the way) and was now under the covers watching Sasuke jump and shuffle through what seemed to be a chest of expensive-looking clothes.   
  
I ran a hand though my recently washed hair, tingly with cleanliness. "How are you, may I ask, supposed to treat me so well here... without being patronizing?"  
  
Sasuke then pulled out a hideous-looking doublet. Walking up to a mirror, he stretched the sleeves and seemed to model it for himself. "You are going to be my companion," he told me.   
  
"That shirt is really ugly, and companion for what?" asked I, not the slightest thought of manners crossing my primitive mind.  
  
"What do you suggest I wear then, and companion for me." He lifted an eyebrow as he looked at me. "As in friends?"  
  
Friend was good. Quite good.  
  
"You should wear some normal, ordinary day-to-day clothes. Are you dressing up for something?"  
  
"You could say that..." he said, rummaging through the chest again, tossing garments of cotton, deep velvet, satin, and even silk, all across the floor. "I'm preparing to meet with a woman."  
  
"A woman? I thought you were already married."  
  
"It's been years since this girl last visited me."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"My wife."  
  
I clicked my tongue. "...Interesting."  
  
What an interesting man, that Uchiha Sasuke was! Was I slightly hoping that the Uchiha had been unmarried? Certainly I did not feel a tinge of jealousy shoot up my spine? Of course I had simply felt disappointed that I was the only bachelor in the room. Oh, how dreadful it was to be lonely. If only Sasuke were more like me-- single, romantic, and innocent as a butterfly. A beautiful, graceful, milky-skinned, curvy... butterfly.  
  
Sasuke smirked at me.   
  
"I don't love her, if that makes you any less jealous."  
  
That took my by surprise. "Jealous? Wh-whatever do you mean?" I shakily questioned him. Looking down upon myself, I noticed I was holding the dark blanket of the bed a little too tightly in my lap. In fact, I found my feminine posture _so_ intriguing, I'd failed to notice that Sasuke had sauntered over to sit on the bed next to me.  
  
And he seemed to be coming closer to me. At an alarming rate, I must say.  
  
And now he was straddling me... I was really getting sick of that smug smirk he always had on his lips, you know? Not that I'd _protest_ or anything. It was just...  
  
Those rich-people pants were really good-looking on him. Really, truly, they accentuated his legs. His face was accentuated, too, or maybe that was just because it was one inch in front of the end of my nose.   
  
"Um... Wh-what are you doing?" I asked, honestly attempting to be as blunt and offensive as possible.  
  
He leaned over, his breath pooling hotly in my eardrums as he whispered huskily in my ear.  
  
"Remember, Naruto? I was told to do _whatever pleases you_..."  
  
Whoa. That went straight to my penis.  
  
Speaking of which, his hand was directly above what would be classified as "The Forbidden Zone." Placing a soft kiss on my ear, Sasuke said, "Feel free to ask if you want anything..." He then rubbed me swiftly, the maddening feeling of the warm behind silk eliciting a moan from my throat. And I don't know where my mind had gone at that moment, for I felt something feral awaken within me-- something I had not felt in years. The fact that I could not remember beyond three weeks ago helped the situation none.  
  
But something told me I didn't want to feel this vulnerable before another human being-- especially this one.   
  
"No," said I, gently shoving Sasuke away from me as I hid myself under the covers. The Uchiha looked confused for a moment. It was as though he was not used to rejection. I blushed furiously. "No, thank you, I mean... I'm a guest."  
  
After burning his eyes through me like my innards hat just replaced my skin for a couple more seconds, Sasuke sighed and removed himself from my lap. "As you wish," he said almost sadly. He headed for the bathroom, bringing out a set of pajamas as he plopped down on the bed, his slumped back turned towards me.  
  
I must have sat there drooling as he unbuttoned each button on his shirt and slowly (but agonizingly) removed it from his shoulders, revealing pale flawless skin that made me wonder if I sat in the presence of some sort of divinity. And then he noticed I was staring, and he gave me a smile-- a strange smile different than all those smirks he had displayed before. This smile was softer and, though this is merely a superficial judgement, a bit shy.   
  
"If you desire anything, don't hesitate to ask me."  
  
It seemed I was the guest of honor. But I could only hesitate longer because of that.

* * *

Spread the word: Naruto's pregnant (with Sasuke's child). That's why he couldn't beat Kimimaro, that's why Sasuke ran away, and that's why he's been looking chubbier in recent chapters. HO YEAH. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Title:** Arabic Numerals  
**Genre:** AU, romance, ummm is gayness a genre?  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru and some other weird ones  
**Warnings:** weirdness  
  
This chapter is a bit longer than the others because I never found a good cutoff point. Not that my cutoff now is too good or anything, but it's manageable.

* * *

"Come on, Naruto, we're leaving," he said firmly, his eyes cold like a poor child in shorts sitting out in the freezing snow, a child waiting hopelessly for his late father to return from a war. Sasuke grumbled as he shot a glance over his shoulder at his taller older brother, "We're not needed here."   
  
Hastily, he grabbed his long brown coat in his hand and instantly ripped the door open with a force that left me feeling relieved I had not foolishly stepped in the door's way. Sasuke paused for a moment, allowing me to retrieve the heavy forest green coat and hat and walk through he door ahead of him. Almost instantaneously, the door was slammed shut behind me. The dead old lamp above the door clattered and rattled the frozen dew like a wind chime.   
  
It was very cold this morning. There was an icy wind blowing as one could only hold their coat tightly to it. But I was used to the cold from the prison of the castle. Looking over at Sasuke, it seemed he was used to sitting beside a warm fireplace tightly hugging a mug of _le chocolat chaud_ to his lips at treacherous times like these.   
  
The Uchiha nervously looked side to side as though totally and completely lost and abandoned. Taking the lead, he sped his way across the front yard and towards the steps which led to the main road, his fine black shoes tapping loudly upon the conglomerate walkway with every pace.   
  
I had no idea why we were out here-- I had simply been awaken from my slumber and told to dress immediately. I'm assuming Uchiha had had some sort of quarrel with his brother and had been forced to leave. Rich people were truly strange at times, I thought. Why would anyone leave such a place?   
  
"What..." I began quietly, gathering obnoxious courage, "was that _about_?"   
  
Sasuke scoffed angrily, heavily plopping his rump upon the marble step and looking away.   
  
"...Nothing."   
  
"What do you mean 'nothing'?" I retorted. "You have just stormed out of what I think is the biggest and most comfortable house I've ever been in-- and dragged me along, too!!"   
  
"If you think that way, then you can go _back inside_," Sasuke snapped back, his intense glare always towards the road in front of him instead of me. I wished I had never seen Sasuke like this.   
  
"No! I won't!" I said. "Because that would be deserting you!"   
  
"Well, it's not like everyone else hasn't deserted me _already_!"   
  
His voice cracked severely on the last word.   
  
"First my parents, then my colleagues, my servants, then my own brother-- everyone!!"   
  
"I'm _not_ everyone-- I'm not _anyone_, apparently!"   
  
"...Wh--" Sasuke took in a deep breath, and then spoke slowly and painfully clearly. "..._Why_ are you still _here_?" he said.   
  
I held my tongue then, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.   
  
"Is it because you have nowhere else to go? My brother would gladly take you into _his_ home. He _loves you_." His voice grew in blossoming insanity. "Or maybe you just feel pity for me, and you would feel guilty if you left?"   
  
I made a face at that. "Hmph!" Pity him? I plopped myself right next to him on the step, my legs stretched out in front of me. Sasuke turned to me, and I got to see an expression of raw emotion strike his once perfect mask. "I don't pity you. You're living a blessed life, so there's nothing to pity."   
  
The Uchiha had expected me to pity him and sympathize, and he probably wanted that pity.   
  
That was all he ever knew in kindness.   
  
"I'm just following you around because that's what I've always been doing-- ever since I got out of the castle. And because I have nowhere else to go. And don't even mention your brother--" I shook my head in an affirmative action. "I'm speaking of people who _won't_ rape me in my sleep..."   
  
Sasuke was staring at me. I became nervous. Please, I thought, any reaction would be fine. Nothing was worse than the silence I was receiving at that moment.   
  
"As in... without my permission..." I continued hesitantly, gesturing with my hands. My previously squinted eyes slowly cracked themselves open. I blinked confusedly at the Uchiha. I believe I must have taken on the stupidest face possible. Why wasn't he reacting--   
  
And then Sasuke smiled, leaning in until his gentle lips were brushing my earlobe. His voice was low and husky.   
  
"Does that mean _I_ have your permission, Naruto...?"   
  
Maybe he simply enjoyed making fun of my blatant virgin soul.

* * *

"Why in _hell_ did I decide to follow you?"   
  
"Because you're a complete idiot."   
  
"Bastard," I said.   
  
"Dumbass," he replied.   
  
It had grown only grown colder as we wandered around the cobblestone walkways of town, and Sasuke still refused to reveal his destination-- if he even _had_ one. I had not decided to question him because I wanted to be surprised! It was always fun to play a little game with life in its dreariest times! And so we marched as though making our way through a treacherous blizzard, the cloudy sky only discouraging our morale and wetting the soles of our shoes with light drizzling rain.   
  
I think I stepped on a slug.   
  
That was it. I was not going to wander in the dark any longer! "Sasuke, where the hell are we going?!" I demanded, sounding a little less pleased than I intended to. Not that I cared with Mr. High and Mighty beside me.   
  
At this point, it began to rain harder, and Sasuke's hatless head was drenched with now water, dark ebony locks plastered to his face, making him look more pathetic than before. He seemed to be battling an answer in his head, and when he was finally able to reply, his voice was almost nonexistent.   
  
"...I don't know where," he muttered, his breath drowned out by the pitter patter of rain around us.   
  
Meanwhile, we continued to wander around town with no apparent destination on our mind. It was strange because, having known myself, I probably would have been putting up much more of a fight against being lost, but, in this case, I felt absolutely mellow. I didn't care where the road of life would take me.   
  
Remember those memories of a peaceful peasant life? I couldn't remember them any longer. It was as though I was slowly waking from a dream.   
  
There was red.   
  
Fire.   
  
And a raging monster throwing its head back and screaming to the sky, bloody wine dripping from its lips, running a stream from its grim crooked teeth. More screams, wails, cries, explosions, alarms, and a rumbling through my appendix as a tight iron trap closed upon my heel-- lightly at first, then tighter, tighter, tighter, tighter... Was it about to crack? And then I realized the blood was my own and the wails were from the monster as I was the monster and the monster was I, and Armageddon closed in slowly upon us in one swift blow...   
  
And then I heard the ringing of a bell.   
  
"Sell your soul!" called a weighty man from behind a beaten counter, his one hand waving a bell high in the air. "Sell your soul to the devil!" he said. "Any wish you might want-- consider it granted! Sell your soul to the devil!"   
  
Maybe I should have noticed the puppet strings connected to the back of the man's head.   
  
Sasuke rolled his eyes, sauntering casually over to the rundown man in his rundown stand. "How long have you _been_ here?" he asked the dirtied male.   
  
"Since time began, my lord," the man replied quickly.   
  
_Get out of there._   
  
I whipped my head around to look behind me. My vision wobbled for a moment before Sasuke asked what the hell I was looking at. Looking angrily back at him, I yelled, "I thought I heard someone, okay?" Sasuke grunted in response.   
  
"Sell you soul to the devil?" interrupted the old man, holding the bell as though it was all the power in the world. "No refunds, I'm afraid," he said, his eyes curving into barely visible half-moons and flashing with the essence that seemed to pull like the puppet strings.   
  
"No," Sasuke replied.   
  
"I'd like to try, sir!" I said.   
  
"You idiot," the Uchiha hissed. "He's probably just trying to steal your money."   
  
"One wish, please!"   
  
I grinned as I slammed my fist upon the counter in confirmation. I stuck my tongue out at Sasuke. That Uchiha really needed to brighten up. It was just a little soul-selling stand! Honestly! It really sparked my curiosity.   
  
The fleshy man smiled back at me, his eyes crinkled in delightful mirth.   
  
"I'm sorry, good sir, but I'm afraid I cannot do you business." He spoke in a low baritone.   
  
I blinked. "...Why not?"   
  
A crooked grin. A misplaced jaw. His pale pupils regarded me joyfully. My vision blurred for a moment and I felt like I was being flung backwards. My feet stayed rooted to the ground, and it was as though I had no control over any part of me.   
  
"I'm afraid you do not have a soul," said the old man.   
  
The hell? "Of course I have a soul!" I yelled back. "How could I be standing here if I didn't have a soul?!"   
  
"I do not know," he said ominously, never once letting the smile fade from his face, "but I am one hundred percent sure that your body is _not_ running on a soul."   
  
"How would you know?!"   
  
"It says right here in my records..."   
  
Then from under the counter, the meaty man pulled a large dusty book which glowed at the edges with an unsettling aura of unpleasant nastiness. And then, by some sort of black magic, he flipped his wrist and opened the book to--   
  
"Page 8031. You've already sold your soul once, I'm afraid."   
  
Sasuke's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"   
  
"Do what, my lord?" said the man.   
  
"Open the book without using your hands?"   
  
"Of course I used my hands, my lord. You saw it yourself."   
  
"I mean-- _without touching the book_?" Something told me I should have been questioning that as well, but I could only stay rooted to the spot, asking questions I knew I wouldn't receive an answer to.   
  
"I'm afraid I do not know what you're talking about." And then the man turned back to the book, his plump features mocking me in every possible way. He traced a finger down the page and stopped on the only visible name on the page. "January first, six years ago-- Kyuubi no Youko."   
  
Tighter, and tighter, _and tighter. Make it stop, please, God, let it end._   
  
Sasuke lifted an eyebrow and looked questioningly at me. "Kyuubi no Youko?"   
  
I quickly shook my head. "...And old nickname. It's nothing."   
  
_"...So you don't remember."_   
  
"So you've come here before, then."   
  
"Yes."   
  
_"Didn't they wipe your memory clear?"   
  
"No. I still remember everything."_   
  
"Uchiha, could you please take me to the castle?"   
  
"What for?"

* * *

_And suddenly, he was behind me. He was inside me. He was speaking to me, through me. His breath hissing across my ears without actually being there, and Sasuke didn't seem to notice at all. No one else could hear it but me. And as I alone asked him the question to which I desired the answer, he could only admonish me coldly.  
  
"Don't try to remember."_

* * *

"And so Gaara wasn't there, and he escaped or something and everyone was freaked out-- I don't know why they were freaked out. I mean, he... wasn't scary at all! Then we were wandering around for a while and then I finally reminded Sasuke-bastard here that he was supposed to meet with his wife today!! So he led us here and-- Gee, it was really nice of you to let us in, Miss Hinata!!"  
  
"She's married to me, you moron. It's _Mrs._."  
  
"But _Miss_ Hinata is cuter!"  
  
My peripheral vision caught a dash of red on the woman's cheeks when she heard me say that. "S-so that's what happened..." said the gentle mistress as she hid her face behind a cup of tea. Politely, she sipped at the tea, afraid to put the thing down and reveal her pale features to anyone.   
  
Let me rewind the story a little bit.

* * *

"I thought no one was supposed to escape from the castle!"  
  
"Well, obviously, they keep the lunatics imprisoned for a reason, but this is Gaara of the Desert we're talking about, so it's all around possible."  
  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, bending over the table and glaring the secretary in the eye. "And no one is out to stop him? This is Gaara of the Desert we're talking about, isn't it? Slaughtered a hundred million people--"  
  
"Are there even that many people in this country?"  
  
"Said it was because he was hungry--"  
  
"He's not a goddamn _cannibal_."  
  
The front deskman, a feminine-looking man with the complexion of a dirtied old dishrag, who was casually twirling the feathered pen between his fingers, rolled his eyes tiredly, thrusting his arm and pointing his finger towards the exit of the castle. "You can go out there and look for him. He disappeared just this morning. He can't have gotten far."  
  
"Excuse me, sir. This is _Gaara of the Desert_ we're talking about."  
  
"Oh. Right," the man said (as though he had just remembered his own name). "Well, if you were wanting to visit him, you're too late. He's gone. But you could always wait for him to kill someone and look for him that way."  
  
I threw my hands up in the air and growled loudly in exasperation. "Thanks, anyway," Sasuke muttered, turning to leave. I shot one last glare at the dried up front deskman and followed him. The Uchiha was already holding the door open for me. As I walked through the exit, subconsciously aware of the Uchiha's eyes on me, I suddenly thought of something.  
  
"Hey, Sasuke. Aren't we supposed to be meeting your wife?"  
  
Sasuke's face blanketed over with an unreadable expression.  
  
"Shit." I guess he might have done well to remember that before he ran away from home.  
  
"Where were you supposed to meet her?" I asked, pulling my hat over my head as I walked into the drizzling rain.  
  
My shoes splashed rainwater about my clothes as I gloomily held my trousers up with my calloused hands. I squinted to prevent the raindrops from dripping into my eyes.  
  
Sasuke sighed heavily, walking beside me, resting his head on my left shoulder and wrapping his arm around my waist. I found myself blushing from the pleasant warmth radiating from the other boy.  
  
"The plan was for her to come to my house. She probably went home after she couldn't find me."  
  
I groaned. "Where should we go now?"  
  
Sasuke hugged me closer.  
  
"Hey, hey-- Let's go to a pub or something."  
  
Sasuke's eyes lifted curiously to regard my face. "Are you old enough to drink?"  
  
"No..."  
  
Sasuke glared at me. "Moron."  
  
"Bastard..."  
  
There was a short silence after that.  
  
Suddenly, I found myself stretching my arms above my head and yawning, the sleeves of my massive coat slinking down to expose my arms. Sasuke stepped away as I did this. At that moment, the rain decided to pour down in heavy sheets of water, and I was instantly soaked down my arms and lower.  
  
"She lives a couple miles from here, if you're still interested in meeting her."  
  
"Huh? Who?"  
  
"...Idiot."

* * *

Hinata-- a weird girl. I definitely wouldn't have guessed she was Sasuke's wife had I just seen her walking down the street. She was much too nice for a bastard like Sasuke. Miss Hinata seemed so shy when she opened the door to greet us and as she sat in front of us now. Most people rich enough for servants would never answer the door themselves. And yet Miss Hinata humbly let us inside her mansion (which was decidedly even more grand than the Uchiha's domain), and she even invited us to live with her.  
  
"W-we have plenty of g-guest rooms..." she stuttered, gesturing towards a hallway that seemed to go on to heaven and forever. Identical doors paired off all the way down as well. My jaw dropped and hung open on a broken hinge.  
  
Sasuke interrupted his wife. "It's all right. Naruto and I will sleep in the same bedroom."  
  
I tried to protest. "Wha--"  
  
"I don't think your cousin would want an ex-prisoner like Naruto in one of his beds."  
  
"Wha--?!"  
  
Hinata tried to protest, too. "B-but I'm sure he'd be all right with it if I-I just ask--"  
  
"I don't want you troubling yourself like that, Hinata. And you know as well as I do that Neji will do his best to make Naruto's stay here absolutely miserable if he hears of you defending someone from the castle. He'll think Naruto's trying to court you for your money, won't he?"  
  
"N-no, not at all-- I'm worried if N-Naruto will be fine sharing a room with you?"  
  
"No need to worry. We've slept together several times."  
  
Okay. Perhaps "slept together" didn't have a sexual connotation for rich people. Either way, mental images sprung up, and I found myself glowing red with anger. Did that jerk really have to place himself on a throne by rubbing me in the dirt over and over again?! My hands balled up into fists as I began shouting brashly, "I've only slept with you once at your house!"  
  
Sasuke smirked and shifted behind me, grabbing my shoulders and pressing his warm chest against my back, and I was then fully aware of how much taller he was compared to me. "And I'm sure you enjoyed that one night _tremendously_." I could feel his heartbeat against my own.  
  
"Bastard! All I did was sleep with you!" I yelled. Judging by the alarming shade of pink on Miss Hinata's face, it seemed I needed to clarify my choice of words. Sasuke was going to do nothing but take advantage of the situation. So I turned to her, waving my hands frantically in defense. "Nothing happened between us! We just slept in the same room!"  
  
"In the same bed..." Sasuke added, wrapping his hands around my waist and pressing our hips together.  
  
Instinctively, I tore myself from the Uchiha's arms and spun around to yell at him again. "What the hell is your problem?! Don't you have any decency?! Your wife is right here in front of you!" It sounded a bit ironic for someone like me to be talking about decency.  
  
"I-it's all right, N-Naruto... Uchiha sleeps with l-lots of people--"  
  
"No! It's not all right!" I said, my eyes glued to the Uchiha in front of me. "She's your wife! You're supposed to be bound to her and only her! You're always acting like you're so cool, you bastard! You're just a jerk who doesn't care about anyone but yourself!" My fists tightened and my knuckles grew white. My eyebrows furrowed and my bottom lip quivered. "You have no feelings, do you?!"  
  
Sasuke glared at me-- a glare that would have scared the panties off me had I not been one gallant and handsome protagonist Uzumaki Naruto. The entire room seemed to hang heavy and dark from the Uchiha's anger, but I would never let that scare me. Not ever! Sasuke was being way too selfish and inconsiderate of Hinata's feelings. And Hinata was such a nice person!  
  
"...Sorry."  
  
Yeah, you'd better be sorry, you bastard--  
  
Wait.  
  
...What?  
  
"What's with that stupid look, you _idiot_? I said I'm sorry."  
  
"...Um."  
  
I should have been offended by the insult, should have ground my teeth together and pounded that stuck-up loser's face in, but all my anger at him washed away with the spilling of those words from his lips. This was not the Sasuke I barely knew and utterly despised! It couldn't be the same man, for no one could possibly have a third dimension to their personality!  
  
I searched my mind for the word-- flabbergasted. Utterly flabbergasted, I opened my mouth an inch to speak, then closed it, then opened it again-- like opening and closing a duck's bill. And after looking like I had to vomit for another few moments, the only thing I could quack out was, "If you're really sorry, you'll stop..." I paused. "... Okay?" Dammit, I didn't have anything to say! That asshole!  
  
"Hn," Sasuke answered. Arrogant bastard. "Whatever. You'll still sleep in my room. You don't want Neji watching you at gunpoint because he suspects you're hitting on my _dearest_ wife." And with that, he turned on his heel and said, "I'm going to bed," softly closing the door behind him and his billowing coattails.  
  
For a long moment, I stood gaping dumbly at the door.  
  
Did that...  
  
Did he just...  
  
That...  
  
That Uchiha really pissed me off!  
  
When I woke up the next morning, I rolled to find an empty half of the bed beside me. Absentmindedly, I wondered why it seemed so natural to sleep in the same bed as Sasuke as compared to the time the warden allowed (forced) prisoners to share prison cells in the castle. I sighed as I threw my legs over the side of the bed and scratched my armpits good morning.  
  
"Good morning," I muttered to no one in particular (or just my armpits), a habit I picked up while I was at the castle.  
  
Still rubbing at my tired eyes and smacking my lips together, I made my way out of the room and into the bedroom hall, my bare feet dragging themselves along the cold tiled floor. It must have been close to an hour that I wandered through the house before finally, turning the corner, I walked head first into the tuxedoed chest of a man perhaps one head taller than myself. "Ow!" I shouted, though it really didn't hurt as much as I let on. My head was a piece of stone, after all. I was more concerned about the wellbeing of the man I ran into.  
  
Lifting my head, a pair of pale marble eyes looked down at me, and dark oily locks seemed to reach towards me like hands from the back of this man's head. His face was like a mirror, a cruel pasty-faced mirror that reflected and penetrated me like a knife through a wispy ghost left alone in a haunted mansion. A metaphor I cannot even explain.  
  
Then, with the same penetrating knife of a voice, this man asked me, "Who in hell are you? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," I replied confidently. "Miss Hinata is letting me stay here." I squinted in seriousness and stood strongly to meet the man's face. "Who are _you_?"  
  
The long-haired main frowned at my absolutely intimidating posture and replied, "I am Hyuuga Neji." Oh shit. "_Mrs._ Hinata's cousin and owner of this residence." Oops. "Are you the piece of trash the Uchiha brought here from the castle?"  
  
I snorted angrily, trying my best not to make a total fool of myself. I failed. "And if I am?" Brilliant, Naruto. Never denying your own idiocy. Maybe I should have said something more defensive and honorable. That seemed like something the real Naruto would do. Oh well. I'm not a stuck-up loser like Sasuke or Neji.  
  
Neji smirked, suddenly reminding me of Sasuke. Dammit, why did all these rich people find me so goddamn amusing?! Of course, when Neji smirked, he gave off a sort of freakish murderous glow from his pale white eyes, which was hypnotizing in its own creepy way. Where Sasuke's eyes were a void of blackness you could fall into forever, Neji's were a porcelain wall that deflected you in every goddamn way possible.  
  
Why was I comparing everything to Sasuke all of a sudden?  
  
"If you're trying to separate Sasuke and Hinata, you should stop trying."  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Even if you succeed, you're nothing to either of them. You're nothing but a loser. That's how you were born. That's how you'll stay."  
  
"Hey! Don't call me a loser!" I growled.  
  
Neji chuckled cruelly, backing away from me with a superior expression. "You're a fool."  
  
"And don't call me that either!"  
  
"I can't help it if you are one." As I began seeing red, I pulled my fist back behind me, carefully aiming for the area right between those two white planes of ice he called eyes.  
  
And then a feminine voice interrupted.  
  
"Neji!" she said, her dainty feet tapping from running across the vast hallway. "P-please be nice to Naruto! He is a guest!" Judging by the constant stuttering, it was Miss Hinata who had come to my rescue, her pale face muddled with worry as she fretfully held her hands to her chest and her knees together in a show of feminine politeness.  
  
Neji whipped his head around to regard his cousin in a distasteful contempt-- similar to what I had seen Sasuke radiate against his brother. _And there I go with the Sasuke references again._ Both Hinata and I waited for some sort of a reaction from the man. After a moment of staring at the girl, Neji planted a scowl on his face and turned away, strutting off to leave Hinata and me in the hallway.  
  
Instinctively, I stuck my tongue out at his retreating figure, and, regrettably, before he was out of earshot, said proudly, "What a jerk!" Hinata's eyes widened for a moment as she looked past me at the taller man. "He acts like he owns the place!" Hinata started shaking her head no. "Well, he does own the place..." Hinata frantically waved her arms in front of her for me to stop. "But what a jerk!"  
  
And then Neji was by my side again, giving off an angry aura that'd set a kitten's tail on fire.  
  
"What did you call me?" he asked, challenging me.  
  
Well, if I was going to be an idiot... "I called you a jerk! I mean, who gives random lectures to people he doesn't even know?!"  
  
Neji puffed up in anger. "Well, you're quite the smart-mouthed idiot, aren't you?"  
  
"Hmph! Well, how can I be an idiot if my mouth is smart?"  
  
In my peripheral vision, I could see Hinata hold a hand to her mouth and giggle slightly. This encouraged me somewhat, though I don't know how. Maybe I was doomed to the lonely life as a jester, feeding only off others' laughter, as dog-boy once said to me. Someone who cannot receive acknowledgement for anything other than being a fool. Unfortunately, Neji didn't seem to be enjoying my wisecracks, for he was snarling at me about ready to wring my little neck till the bones cracked beneath his fingers.  
  
"N-Naruto, you must be hungry. Would y-you like breakfast?"  
  
My eyes flickered open in surprise as my hand moved down to gently pat my stomach, which was flat as a pine wood table. "Ah-- yes, please! I'm starved!" I replied cheerfully.  
  
Hinata shyly smiled back and took the sides of her skirt into her fingers. "Th-then please follow me. Uchiha is waiting for you in the dining room." Grinning, I put my hands behind my head and followed after her.  
  
"We're going to eat breakfast in the dining room, huh?" I chattered. "Back at the castle, we'd just eat whatever bread they threw at us in the morning. This is going to be exciting! Thank you so much for letting me stay here, Miss Hinata!"  
  
Hinata blushed. "I-I'm glad to be of help. It must h-have been difficult to live at the c-castle for so long..."  
  
Naruto laughed nervously. "Well, I don't really know how long I've been there... I can't remember anything past two weeks ago! But this place is amazing! Did you get all this money from inheritance? I know I could never make this much money if I tried!"  
  
"Since they inherited the Hyuuga business as well as the fortune, it's a combination of inheritance of their own work."  
  
"Eh? Miss Hinata? Your voice got lower."  
  
"That was me, you idiot."  
  
And as Hinata stepped aside, I reached the end of the hallway and walked into a magnificent dining hall large enough for a cathedral. On the table was satiny fabric tablecloth rimmed with a glittering gold. On the walls hung dozens of paintings and portraits that seemed to gaze down upon me like huntsmen. A massive crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and light glimmered brightly throughout the entire room like rays of light from heaven.  
  
And at the third seat from the end of the table on the right side was Uchiha Sasuke, casually resting his chin on his hand and his elbow on the table, looking straight at me. Wasn't that supposed to be bad manners?  
  
Unconsciously, my mouth formed the word "wow" as I looked up and down the long table and ignored the stare of the Uchiha in front of me. It was then a dreadful question struck me. Where the hell was I supposed to sit? I helplessly looked to Hinata to see if she would direct me any further, but she had already left my side and apparently gone to help in the kitchen.  
  
So it was just Sasuke and me.  
  
"Are you going to sit down or do I have to carry you?"  
  
"Hmph!"  
  
And so I stood in place with Sasuke practically _ogling_ me for another three minutes or so. I-- looking around for any sign of Hinata returning. Even Neji could've come in right now to relieve me of torture. But no one came. I just stood there like a complete moron until--  
  
"Uh..." I started, fiddling with the edge of my pajama shirt and looking around helplessly, "Wh-where..."  
  
Sasuke raised a fine eyebrow, urging me to continue.  
  
My face burned with embarrassment. "Where do I... uh... sit?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I lifted my head to give a nervous glare at the Uchiha.

* * *

SORRY FOR MAKING ALL MY REVIEWERS WAIT SO LONG! You guys do not know how important it is to me to receive your reviews. It's what keeps me alive, lovers. So keep reviewing and I'll continue because it is my ninja way!! 


	5. Chapter Five

Ahaha... oh shit. More than a year since I've updated. Wrote this all in one afternoon in about two hours in a sudden bout of inspiration.

Title: Arabic Numerals - Chapter 5  
Pairing: SasuNaru  
Warnings: I'm not gonna lie. This chapter is just filler. Cursing, OOCness, rambliness, etc. I like subtlety in writing, but I sorta fail at it, and that's what this chapter is. My failure.

* * *

I remember back when I used to live in the asylum: There used to be this high-pitched, ear splitting, nails on six blackboards accompanied by the chorus of sobbing children with rectal dryness, grinding noise that would play over and over like the humming of cicadas in my mind. Of course, I hadn't noticed this noise, hadn't received or processed it in the tiny mush of medication once called my brain. It wasn't until I had stopped taking the medication that I noticed the sound was _gone_.

All there was was quiet. All there needed to be was the soft rustling of clothing, and my mind would pounce on it and ravage it with smothering interpretation and suspicion. It was a new dimension of sensory my mind had seemingly never experienced before. Where my mind was cramped and squeezed like multiplying mice in a basement, it was now expanded, and I realized that something in the medication had been causing me to be, for lack of better word, _dim_.

Occasionally, the sound would come back, and it would be so unbearable that I'd dig my fingers into my skull and crumple to the floor, sobbing quietly and wishing for it _all to end_. Really, truly, the most pathetic sight you've ever seen.

Luckily, this didn't usually happen when there were people around. Not _usually_, anyway.

* * *

That morning, I had awoken to the heated hiss of someone's voice. I felt lips nipping at my ear. I felt hands traveling across my body, around my waist. I felt fingers hooking the waist of my pants and tugging them down. I whimpered as seething hot fire licked at my insides and gripped my limbs like a hand puppet. And then I was awake.

I blinked dazedly, opening my mouth to utter a brief "Good morning". But I stopped when I saw the curled figure of Sasuke right beside me in the bed, still sleeping and drooling slightly from the mouth. Had it been any other time, any other life, I would have found the image adorable and precious.

But I pulled my lips together and lowered my head, as though in a trance. Was I dreaming? Today, I wasn't even going to say good morning to myself. What had happened?

Jumping unenthusiastically out of the bed and pulling on the clothes that had been prepared for me on the dresser adjacent, I silently tiptoed from the room. And I decided to myself I would be taking a walk that morning.

It was strange. As though the entire trip out of Hinata's household was a distant illusion that had sifted from my memory like smoke from a windowsill. I was suddenly wandering around the back alleys of _wherever_ the hell I was. My clothes were dry, straightened, smooth: More than any clothing I ever imagined I could afford. I felt like a puppy in winter boots. This was _not_ how I was meant to be, I noted.

I turned around.

And my lips formed words without me realizing it. It was like watching two people conversing in the middle of the park. "Was this where I came from?"

And someone else replied. "Whatever you want. Just keep going."

And I sighed, patting the smooth velvety coat to my chest. "But should I go back soon? How am I going to get back if I don't know the way?"

And that someone replied again. "You don't want to go back now, do you?"

"But I didn't even say goodbye. On second thought, I don't... I don't want to say goodbye!"

"You're not the brightest of stars in the gas clouds. You asked me this question yourself: How do you get back if you're lost?"

"I can find a way if I just try to retrace my steps. I'll probably find Sasuke at least."

But on second thought, that bastard probably wouldn't even come looking for me. He'd probably be sitting idly at his table, waving a wine glass in the air, speaking in that arrogant manner of his. Hinata would come over, the kind, righteous woman that she is, and she'd say 'H-Have you seen Naruto? He's been missing since this morning... Maybe we should look for him...!' And Sasuke would scoff in perfect unison with Neji, and they'd both groan with their lips pursed, 'That idiot? If he's stupid enough to get himself lost in this city, he deserves to rot and die in a gutter.' That would be the exact scenario, wouldn't it?

What an annoying voice in my head, I thought.

I shook my head back and forth, my teeth clenched in determination. "He'll be on the way back. If I just try to retrace my steps, he'll be looking for me at the halfway point."

But I didn't turn around.

I kept going deeper into the city, losing myself.

It was becoming blurrier, wavier, grayer, and as things became so blurry I feared I could never see again--

The sound, _that sound_, that god forsaken sound of babies wailing, piglets shrieking, rocks upon mudslides upon news reports upon announcement after announcement of panic and despair, the sound I hadn't even _noticed_ until I had followed the good doctor out of the asylum and into the wild _was back_.

I cried out, my voice not loud enough for me to even hear over the screech. Gripping my now sweaty, matted, stringy blond hair at the roots and stumbling through the street, I wailed again, earning more than a few frightened looks from random passerby.

And someone grabbed me by the collar. "Naruto."

"_WHAT THE HELL IS IT!_" I couldn't hear myself, so I had to shout, you see. I must have been _dreaming_ or something. I _still_ couldn't _hear_ myself.

I couldn't _hear anything_.

I couldn't _see anything_.

"You're not Naruto. Naruto, get the _fuck_ back here!"

"_I AM HERE! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!_" Was what I meant to say, but, you see, it was like trying to stay on top of a wild, rabidly enraged horse, and there was no way I was going to stay on for long, and if I even tried to form this mental image on my mind, I felt I was being thrown off the seat of a carriage on haywire, flying on the feathers of a bird and slipping into a deadweight free fall past levels and levels of a building with infinite floors.

"Wake up! _You!_ _You're_ not Naruto!"

"_YES I AM!_" I screamed. "_I AM NARUTO! I'M RIGHT HERE! WHO THE FUCK IS IT!_"

"Come _out_! It's me! It's me!"

And I felt a strange tugging in my lower body, bubbling in my gut and rising all the way to my cheeks.

But I couldn't feel my cheeks at the time, so what was I feeling?

"Wake up!"

If my soul were to be ripped from its casket and welded to a flaming pike, it would be the feeling I was feeling right then.

"You _fucking idiot_, it's _me_!"

My cheeks were on fire.

And everything was clear again

"It's me, Sasuke," he murmured, glaring down at me with the most hilariously miserable expression on his face. His black pupils were now clearly visible, as his face was so close to mine. His irises were more of a dark brown color. And his hair looked wet.

"What the fuck do you want, bastard?" I replied curtly, weakly narrowing my eyes.

Sasuke's expression changed then as the jackass realized I was actually still alive. But I swear I was conscious this entire time. Just what the hell was he babbling on about? He looked like a ruffled hamster.

"...I want you to tell me how this feels," he finally said.

And I felt that strange tugging in my lower body again. And my eyes widened and my lips parted for a soft, confused yelp.

"Finally, you show some sort of reaction, stupid."

My cheeks burst into seventy different shades of red, each one brighter than the rest. I was boiling with embarrassment.

"You were groping me the entire time-- Ah...!" I asked, wincing again as his hand rubbed up against my groin once again.

Great. Now the bastard was smirking again. You know, I used to think that smirk made him look pretty handsome, bordering on sexy. Now it's just always accompanied with sexual frustration and a well-placed heap of jackassery.

"I was sort of hoping I'd meet you at the halfway point between where Hinata was and where you had lost yourself, but, no, you just had to make me come all the way for you..." he growled, leaning over and nipping gently at my ear. I yelped again, well aware of the waning erection bouncing excitedly in my trousers.

"Stop that! That's so nasty!" I slammed my hands down on Sasuke's chest and tried to push the bastard away, but he just kept coming, hooking his arms under my underarms and pulling me close. I struggled and wriggled like a fish out of water.

But it was no use. Sasuke wasn't going to let me go, it seemed. His head was snapped in the crook of my neck, and I could feel the breath from his nose pooling across my skin. Dammit, why was he so cruel to me like this! Finally relaxing my body in defeat, I cautiously, hesitantly patted the sides of Sasuke's arms like the sides of a porcupine.

My cheeks still burning hot, I leaned into Sasuke's body and sighed.

* * *

_"What did Neji do when he found out I was gone?"_

"He said you should go die in a gutter if you're stupid enough to get lost in this city."

* * *

Haha, oh Neji. Sorry again TT Please review, everyone. It really does make me feel so happy. And this time I'll actually respond to your reviews if you have questions! 


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